IT Specialist (Systems Admin)

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology • Philadelphia County, PA

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Serve as an operational service provider of foundational compute, storage, physical database, and client management components, delivering secure and highly available infrastructure solutions in support of the VA’s mission. Implement and sustain technical, management, and operational security controls and processes to protect mission-critical networks, systems, and applications throughout the VA enterprise.

The role maintains and supports systems and servers, troubleshoots hardware and software, and performs routine system maintenance. It also supports data protection and recovery activities and ensures systems comply with organizational security policies. The position is primarily sedentary and is not virtual. The selected employee will report to a federal worksite in Austin, Texas, or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Some employees may be eligible for telework with required approvals and compliance. Occasional travel may be required. The position has promotion potential to GS-12, subject to regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements; selection at a lower grade does not guarantee promotion.

Requirements

• Be a U.S. citizen.
• Meet the information technology-related experience requirements demonstrating attention to detail, customer service, oral communication, and problem solving, or qualify through the stated GS-11 education substitution and specialized experience.
• For GS-11, have one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-9, including assisting with Linux and Windows server administration, scripting, daily monitoring, data protection and recovery, Enterprise Architecture documentation, and support of hardware and software systems and services, including storage, cloud, backup appliances, and Commvault.
• For GS-12, have one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-11, including managing and configuring data-protection strategies and recovery operations in a multi-tiered environment; applying backup and recovery concepts across Microsoft Windows, Linux, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle; and researching, developing justifications and operational concepts, developing system-engineering requirements, and defining hardware and software requirements for data-protection systems.
• Meet the selective placement factor: experience administering Linux operating systems and supporting enterprise data-protection solutions, including backup, restoration, and replication technologies such as Commvault, as well as enterprise data-protection storage platforms such as NetApp and Dell Data Domain.
• For the GS-11 education substitution, have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, in a qualifying field or with at least 24 semester hours in one or more specified fields.
• Meet applicable pre-employment conditions, including Selective Service registration for males born after December 31, 1959, a background/suitability investigation, required assessments, and completion of onboarding and identification requirements.
• Serve a one-year probationary period if appointed.

Responsibilities

• Conduct periodic system maintenance, including physical and electronic cleaning, disk checks, routine reboots, data dumps, and testing.
• Apply technical knowledge of supporting systems software and component relationships to plan, direct, assemble, implement, and support complex data-processing networks.
• Install, update, and troubleshoot systems and servers.
• Troubleshoot hardware/software interface and interoperability problems.
• Diagnose faulty system/server hardware.
• Implement operational and technical security controls and apply information security and assurance policies, principles, and practices in systems administration and customer support.
• Maintain baseline system security according to organizational policies.
• Plan, execute, and verify data redundancy and system recovery procedures.

Benefits

• Federal employee benefits package available to eligible employees and their families.
• Annual leave accrual based on years of federal service; VA may approve credit for qualifying prior non-federal experience or active-duty uniformed military service when requested and approved before appointment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree